UMaine to conduct annual emergency communications system test Oct. 21

The University of Maine will conduct its annual emergency communications system test on Monday, Oct. 21, complete with three outdoor sirens sounding for several minutes. The sirens are part of UMaine’s multifaceted emergency communications system established in 2007 that allows university safety and communications professionals to use several mechanisms to quickly communicate vital information to the community during emergency situations.

When UMaine’s emergency communication system is activated, several notifications occur: A text message is sent to subscribers of UMaine’s umaine.alerts system; UMaine PD sounds the sirens; information is posted on the university’s homepage and the UMaine portal; and a recorded telephone message may be heard by dialing 581.INFO.

Members of the University of Maine community are reminded to register to receive UMaine’s emergency notifications. The emergency notification service alerts the UMaine community to public safety issues, including inclement weather conditions causing class cancellations.

Those registered for UMaine alerts will receive a message about the emergency notification system on Oct. 21, as well as on the 15th of every month. Registration for texts and/or email alerts may be done online.